The Vespasian Incident
by Numerouno1
Summary: Set after the events of the first group of X-Wing novels. Rogue Squadron through to Solo Command. AU. Contains mostly OCs, but will contain others as well. I hope it's ok. R&R please.


The village gleamed silently, a serene jewel set in an otherwise barren world. Villagers bustled, carrying food and goods - today was market day, and many of the nomadic traders and smugglers were arriving to sell their exotic wares. Indeed, already the smuggler craft Claw and wanderer were landed on the outskirts of the village, bizarre and wonderful sights for the primitive, peaceful inhabitants. Overhead, birds wheeled, issuing strange cries from their alien beaks.

With a scream that split the air like the roar of a Krayt Dragon, the squadron of TIE Interceptors crested the horizon at full throttle, a flight of silver-grey daggers silhouetted against the golden sky. The villagers turned in awe to look at them, the crews of the two smuggler ships realising the danger and bolting for their craft. The vortex created by their passage sucked in one of the birds, slamming it against one of the TIEs. It fell to the ground, and matted clump of blood and feathers.

Inside the cockpit of his Interceptor, Ketar Vindel adjusted the aiming of his ship's lasers and opened fire. Red lines cut the sky from the chin-mounted laser cannons, demolishing buildings in seconds, turning them into burning ashes. The villagefolk screamed and ran. Ketar and his flight herded them, harrying at them, forming them into a tight circle in the middle of the village. On the outskirts of the village, Ketar noticed a pair of Uglies, probably smugglers.

He shifted fire to the wingtip blaster cannons, and blew apart the first craft, a modified TIE Bomber which used the two solar panels to fuse the two compartments together, clearly designed for short atmospheric hops only, but the second powered up shields and took off before he could destroy it. It hovered above the dying village like a hawk, before beginning to turn. Ketar opened a comm. channel and spoke. "Nemesis Lead to Talon. We have one rogue fighter, probably a trader of some kind. I am diverting my course to destroy it. Over." The comm. crackled as the reply came through.

"Roger, Nemesis Lead. Do you need us to delay landing? Over." Ketar appraised the smuggler ship quickly. One of the more bizarre Uglies Ketar had seen, it mated the front of an X-Wing fighter with the troop compartment of an AT-AT, giving it the appearance of an overly-bloated Hutt. The AT-ATs two cannons replaced the missile launchers in the X-Wings nose, and the head of the walker hung underneath the craft, armed with the X-Wings quad-lasers. Armoured and shielded it might be, but it's no match for me in manoeuvrability. "Negative, Talon. Nemesis Lead out."

As the ungainly craft turned away, Ketar dropped neatly in behind it, blasting away with his wingtip cannons. The ship's 'turret' swivelled to fire at him, putting out a pathetic hail of low-strength bolts, but Ketar easily dodged them and kept pouring fire into the aft shield. It flickered, then surged back to full strength as the pilot shifted energy from the other shields and weapons. Perfect. Ketar slammed all power into the Interceptors engines, blasting out in front of the smuggler, then cut the engines and turned to face it. He opened fire with all weapons, scything through the cockpit before the pilot could even react. The pilot disintegrated instantly, then the ship blew apart, spiralling down to crash into the wastes below. Excellent. I'll have to thank Vriskitt for his modifications when we get back on board the Vespasian. The Verpine was the only alien tolerated on board the Star Destroyer, purely for his technical brilliance.

Ketar opened the comm. back up again. "Talon, this is Nemesis Lead. The Ugly is down. No other hostiles. Over."

"Roger, Nemesis Lead. We are beginning our approach now. Over." Ketar saw a dot appear on the horizon, growing rapidly as the shuttle drew closer. "Roger, Talon. I am dispatching two fighters to cover you. Nemesis Lead out." He changed the comm. frequency to that of his squadron. "Six, Nine - cover the Talon as it approaches. Everyone else - land, and prepare for the Talon's arrival." Shouts of "Affirmative" came through the comm.


End file.
